Regular Season Week 6 in review
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 Just one game into the second half of the regular season and two teams can already begin thinking about the next stage. Group B co-leaders Montepaschi Siena and Regal FC Barcelona clinched berths to the Top 16 with Week 6 wins and a handful of other teams can join them next week. This week’s games will also be remembered for seeing the last undefeated team, reigning champion CSKA Moscow, suffer its first defeat of the season in addition to some thrilling games that went down to the closing seconds. In Group A, Olympiacos blasted Air Avellino 91-66 as all 12 Reds played at least 12 minutes and scored at least 3 points. Olympiacos now sits in first place with a 5-1 mark, but faces the two teams tied for second, Cibona and Unicaja, in its next two games. In the same group, Unicaja rocked Le Mans 55-87 to continue climbing the ladder. Thomas Kelati reached the 20-point mark on the road for the second straight week as Unicaja improved to 4-2, while Le Mans continues to search for its first win. Maccabi Electra defeated Cibona 88-83 behind a career night from Lior Eliyahu, whose 24 points, 17 rebounds and 6 assists were all career bests. Maccabi moved within one win of the teams in second and now has the potential head-to-head tiebreaker over Cibona. In Group B, Montepaschi Siena downed Asseco Prokom 73-81 on Wednesday to improve to 5-1, but needed to wait 24 more hours before its Top 16 berth was confirmed. All-Euroleague point guard Terrell McIntyre had 26 points for Siena and his backcourt mate, Rimas Kaukenas, added 22. They were able to celebrate advancing together with Regal FC Barcelona, which blasted SLUC Nancy 91-68. Daniel Santiago scored 20 to lead six Barca scorers in double figures. Panathinaikos earned a 69-80 win at Zalgiris to keep the Lithuanian champs winless. The Greens are also tied for the top spot in the group, but must wait another week before securing a spot in the Top 16. Sarunas Jasikevicius scored a season-high 15 points to lead his team to victory. Lottomatica Roma outlasted Alba Berlin 70-64 for its fifth straight win. Ibrahim Jaaber and Andre Hutson rose to the occasion as November MVP Sani Becirovic and Primoz Brezec sat out with injuries, helping Roma improve to 5-1 in Group C. Head coach Jasmin Repesa’s charges could also clinch a Top 16 berth next week. Tau Ceramica topped Fenerbahce Ulker 69-81 in a game that was closer than the final score indicates. Tau pulled away late to grab exclusive hold of second place in the group at 4-2. Mirza Teletovic matched his career high with 19 points for the winners. And DKV Joventut beat Union Olimpija 65-86 to join Fener in a tie for third place at 3-3. Luka Bogdanovic paced the winners with 16 points, while star guard Ricky Rubio saw limited action in his much-anticipated return. A full slate of games was played on Wednesday in Group D, which provided much of the excitement as two games went down to the final seconds. In Milano, David Hawkins made a one-hand running shot with 9 seconds remaining to cap a fourth quarter that had featured seven lead changes and six ties as Armani Jeans handed reigning champ CSKA Moscow its first loss of the season, 80-79. CSKA would have been the first team to clinch a spot in the Top 16 with a win, but can still do so next week when it hosts Panionios On Telecoms. A second thriller took place in Athens, where Panionios edged Real Madrid 68-66 as Aaron Miles raced downcourt for a layup with 2.5 seconds left. Panionios won despite Madrid's comeback from 28 points behind, and now both teams are tied for second place Partizan Belgrade at 3-3. Partizan bested Efes Pilsen 83-77 in another game that came down to the last few minutes, as Aleksandar Rasic scored 18 points.
Olympiacos kept the top spot in Group A and improved to 5-1 in the standings by simply overwhelming Air Avellino 91-66. All five Reds starters scored in double figures, led by Josh Childress with 13 points, and every player in uniform scored a basket. Lynn Greer added 11 points and has scored in double figures in every game so far this season.
 Maccabi Electra registered the first win of the new Pini Gershon era and solidified its standing in Group A thanks to a career night from Lior Eliyahu, whose 24 points, 17 rebounds and 6 assists were all career bests. Eliyahu outrebounded the rest of his team as he claimed weekly MVP honors for the first time.
Unicaja crushed Le Mans 55-87 for its third straight win and second on the road. Thomas Kelati reached the 20-point mark on the road for the second straight week as Unicaja improved to 4-2. And Joseph Gomis had his best game of the season with 12 points and 8 rebounds. With three of their remaining four games at home – including next week against group leader Olympiacos – head coach Aito Garcia Reneses’s men are now in control of their destiny.
Montepaschi Siena clinched a berth in the Top 16 by overpowering Asseco Prokom 71-83. All-Euroleague first team guard Terrell McIntyre matched his career high with 26 points to lead Montepaschi and Rimantas Kaukenas came off the bench to contribute 22 more for the Italian champs. Ksistof Lavrinovic scored a season-low 5 points as his streak of nine straight games of scoring in double figures came to an end.
Regal FC Barcelona dominated SLUC Nancy 91-68 as it became one of the first teams to clinch a berth in the Top 16. Six different players scored during an 18-2 run the bridged the third in fourth quarters as the hosts put the game away. Daniel Santiago led Barcelona with a season-high 20 points, David Andersen added followed with 16 points and 8 rebounds, which were also season highs. Cyril Julian paced Nancy with 18 and 7.
 Panathinaikos became just the fifth team in Euroleague history to win 300 games as it routed Zalgiris 69-80 on the road. Sarunas Jasikevicius bounced back from his first-ever scoreless game in the Euroleague to lead the Greens with 15 points in his homeland. Nikola Pekovic added 13 for his sixth straight game in double figures. Zalgiris’s Paulius Jankunas recorded his first double-double in nearly two years with 21 points, which matched a career best, and 13 rebounds.
Injury-plagued Lottomatica Roma picked up its fifth straight victory in Group C when it polished off Alba Berlin 70-64 to avenge its only loss of the season. The game was a seesaw affair for most of the first 25 minutes until Roma took control and then held off a couple of late Berlin charges. Ibby Jaaber paced all scorers with 16 points for the winners while Andre Hutson had 15 points and 8 rebounds.
Tau Ceramica grabbed sole possession of second place in Group C with a 69-81 win over Fenerbahce Ulker. Tau snapped a two-game slide and improved to 4-2. Mirza Teletovic led all scorers with 19 points for Tau, while Tiago Splitter added 18 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks and Igor Rakocevic scored 16. Rakocevic (20.2 pg.) and Splitter (17 ppg.) are now ranked first and third, respectively, in the league in scoring.
DKV Joventut took a step forwards in its race to reach the Top 16 by downing Union Olimpija 65-86. Luka Bogdanovic led the winners with 16 points, while star guard Ricky Rubio returned to action with 2 assists and a steal in less than three minutes. Joventut's reserves outscored the starters 46-40, had 7 assists to the starters' 3 and 7 steals to the starters' 4.
Armani Jeans Milano stunned CSKA Moscow 80-79 behind a big night from a pair of backcourt stars. David Hawkins scored 20 points, the last of which came on a go-ahead basket with 9.1 seconds to go, as Milano handed the reigning champs their first loss of the season. The last period featured seven lead changes and six ties before Hawkins earned his team the win and prevented CSKA from becoming the first team to clinch a Top 16 berth. The loss ended a nine-game winning streak for CSKA.
 An Aaron Miles coast-to-coast layup in the closing seconds cancelled out one of the biggest comebacks in Euroleague history and gave Panionios On Telecoms a 68-66 win over Real Madrid. Marko Tomas tied the score at 66-66 with 6 seconds to go, but the visitors were unable to stop Miles, who blew by Raul Lopez and Axel Hervelle to win it. Panionios won for the third time in its last four games to improve to 3-3 in Group D, the same record that Madrid now has. Branko Cvetkovic led Panionios for much of the night and finished with a season-high 21 points, including a pair of clutch free throws to put his team ahead with 19 seconds remaining.
Partizan took a major step towards reaching the Top 16 in Group D by downing Efes Pilsen 83-77 in front of a sellout crowd at Pionir Arena. Aleksandar Rasic paced the winners with 18 points. Kerem Gonlum led Efes with 14 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double in a month. This is first time he has had more than one double-double in a season since 2004-05 season.
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Friday, December 05, 2008
Euroleague.net
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